With 98.7 percent of the state reporting, Ted Cruz was trailing Marco Rubio by 0.2 percentage points. | AP Photo

Cruz declares victory after finishing third (or maybe second)

By ELIZA COLLINS

02/20/2016 10:06 PM EST

Ted Cruz may not know if he’s in second or third place yet, but he’s chalking up South Carolina as a win.

“We don’t know the exact results right now…but each time [we're] defying expectations,” Cruz said. “Indeed the screaming you hear now from across the Potomac is the Washington cartel in pure terror that the grassroots are rising up,” he said repeating a line that he’s used before.

“Friends, once again we have made history you the good people of South Carolina and our incredible volunteers all over the country continue to defy the pundits and to produce extraordinary results,” Cruz said.

With 98.7 percent of the state reporting, Rubio was ahead of Cruz by 0.2 percentage points.

And the Texas senator continued to position himself as the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.

“If you are a conservative this is where you belong because only one strong conservative is in a position to win this race … We are the only campaign that has beaten and can beat Donald Trump,” Cruz said. “I congratulate Donald on his victory tonight but I will say this to the people of America if you don’t believe that Donald trump is the best candidate to run against Hillary Clinton in November if you believe we need a strong contrast with the Democrats then we welcome you aboard our team.”

Cruz also observed a moment of silence for Supreme Court Antonin Scalia, whose funeral he attended earlier Saturday. Cruz has called for Republicans to refuse any of President Barack Obama’s replacements and wait until the next president is chosen.

He said every justice he nominates to SCOTUS will “vigorously protect the fundamental rights of our children and grandchildren.”